Prof. Nathan Bennett Fleming was quoted in The Washington Post on his new crowdfunding website, Black Startup, which allows entrepreneurs with business ideas or projects geared toward the African American community to raise capital.

"If you’re connected or well educated or have family members that are connected to these pools of capital, you’re much more likely to access them,” said Nathan Bennett Fleming, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia and the District’s congressional shadow representative. "But if you don’t have that savvy to access them, you may not even know that these potential funders are there.”

Many of the entrepreneurs will likely be black, though that’s not a requirement, Bennett Fleming said. The money, too, will likely come from African Americans or organizations that aim to encourage the community’s economic development.

"There is significant wealth in the African American community, but we don’t invest that wealth at high rates. A big reason for why we don’t invest at high rates is a lack of knowledge and sophisticated understanding of the capital markets,” Bennett Fleming said.